The Senate Armed Services Committee has voted 23-3 to approve the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2022, the panel said in a Thursday press release about the legislation that authorizes more than $20 billion in spending for the National Nuclear Security Administration.
The committee’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the policy bill that sets spending limits for the Department of Defense and parts of the Department of Energy, now heads to the full Senate. The House Armed Services Committee said last month it plans to markup its version of the fiscal 2022 NDAA in September.
The $20 billion is roughly equivalent to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) spending level proposed in a House Appropriations Committee budget proposal that cleared the committee last week and could be voted on by the full House of Representatives next week.
When it comes to the nuclear weapons stockpile, the Senate committee’s NDAA directs NNSA “to develop and implement an enterprise-wide portfolio management framework that details NNSA’s approach and complete a single, integrated assessment,” according to a summary of the legislation.
Under the Senate Armed Services bill, the NNSA would provide Congressional defense committees and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) with an integrated master schedule and program management plan for the production of 30 plutonium pits per year at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. In addition, the GAO is assigned to study topics ranging from DOE procurement practices to analyzing options for direct-feed high-level waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
On the environmental front, Senate Armed Services instructs NNSA to draw up a detailed strategy “that includes the type and quantity of defense nuclear waste it will generate, plans to treat, store, and dispose of the waste, and potential disposal facilities.” The panel’s bill would also authorize $6.57 billion for defense environmental cleanup overseen by the DOE Office of Environmental Management – a spending level that’s relatively flat with the recently passed House Appropriations bill for DOE.
“The National Defense Authorization Act will help safeguard the nation, counter a range of evolving threats, and support our troops both on and off the battlefield,” Committee Chair Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) “It prioritizes programs and policies to strengthen our cyber defenses, improve readiness, and accelerate research and development of advanced technologies that will give our forces strategic advantages,” Reed went on to say.
“After a lengthy but productive markup, I’m proud this year’s bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act increases the defense topline to the National Defense Strategy Commission’s recommendation of three to five percent real growth,” said Ranking Member Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) in the press release. “This is a big win for our national security and sends a strong message to both our allies and adversaries that America is prepared to stand up for ourselves and our friends.”
Once both the Senate and House pass their versions of the bill, they must then be reconciled in a bicameral conference committee, and then approved by each chamber before a final version may be sent to the President to be signed into law.
The House Armed Services Committee had scheduled its open markup of the lower chamber’s National Defense Authorization Act for Sept. 1.
